PAS2KNut

Final Warning: I've asked nicely for the personal attacks to stop. If these continue I will close this thread. There is nothing productive being accomplished with the personal attacks. Obviously, we have two different opinions here and we should not judge each other

PJK3

thanks Willie for your support. however, i didn't want to drag you into this... sorry.

audiofreak, i see you posted again. based on Willie and Jim's responses, i'm not even going to look.

Jim -- sorry to have gotten into a stir.

sigh. whatever.

R11

Wow. Guess I should have stopped back into the Electronics Forum a bit sooner. Looks like I missed some good fireworks here . First of all I think everyone here is way too touchy. Forums are designed for cross pollenation of ideas and opinions if you will and simply because a person doesn't agree with another's point of view is no reason to take offense at it. My post to you Phil was indeed meant as a friendly one. I really don't know why you would have thought otherwise when I went to the trouble to put in the requisite, strategically placed smileys and several times openly said my intent was not to flame. All that stuff about why would I think you have an axe to grind was way off base and unnecessary. Maybe you were having a bad day at work, or perhaps the new babies had been keeping you up at night...

That being said, my point was simply that (at least with the 04) a good sounding system can be had using the stock HU. Will it be reference quality? No it won't, but it really can be quite good. I think reference quality is lost on many people. This post from CRX7 earlier in this thread would seem to back that up: Everybody has different reference points and yours are not necessarily the same as another persons. Just try to keep an open mind is all. The first good stereo I bought was back in the early 70's when I was still in high school. Cost me $1200 of my own hard earned money (back then $1200 was nothing to sneeze about). Believe it or not I still have that Kenwood amp, separate tuner and floor speakers in one of the rooms of my house. So over the years I have owned and listened to many different systems of varying qualities. I probably wouldn't have even made my original post except for your comment that replacing the HU would provide as big of an improvement as the amplification and new speakers did. As I said before, I agree that it will make an improvement but I just don't agree about the degree of the impact. Adding good, sufficient amplification and speakers that can take take the higher power makes a huge and obvious difference that just about anybody can appreciate. The differences of having an ultra clean signal are a bit more nuanced and probably more appreciated by those with the, how shall we say, highly discriminating ear. Not that there's anything wrong with that of course .

Peace brothers...

ron

NFRs2000NYC

Audiofreak....

First of all, calm down. I dont see you posting here, nor have I seen you help anyone, so please, relax.


Next, I know A LOT about car audio. Ive been doing it for a long time. I think its safe to say I know more than a lot of people here. Will all my knowledge, I dont know a 1/4 of what Phil (PJK3) knows, or John (Darknight) so please, if you disagree with someone here, make sure you know your stuff. Fighting with the very people that keep this forum going isnt the smartest of ideas.

Based on your responses to Phil, I understand you dont know much about car audio, not do I have any intention of reading one of your posts again.

You are lucky Im not a moderator....can you say.....*ban?*

audiofreak

congratulations, you are about a week late

PJK3

[QUOTE]Originally posted by R11
Wow.

Willie Gee

Phil,
please, PLEASE, don't stop posting...That would be detrimental to the health of this forum... in a huge way.

Back to the stock HU vs. aftermarket HU's. I've heard audiofreak's system. And it's not bad...

However, in the process of building my own system, i have installed the 9833, and without wiring the rears, and with the stock fronts, no dedicated amps, I noticed a significant improvement in sound. The '04 stock HU isn't terrible, but it's not terribly good either. An upgrade to a V-drive or equivalent HU amp is, without question, a good call, and mighty start to a great system.

If you are in love with the 'o4 Stock HU, you can keep it and wire an amp, redo the fronts put in rears, and a sub, and you will have a better set-up, but you will see HUGE improvements once the stock HU is replaced. That is not to say, that it is essential that you replace the 'o4 HU; 00-03, yes, it is essential. But the o4 HU is tolerable. But it cannot be the centerpiece of a truly wonderful system.

But for those with serious budget constraints, the o4 stock HU remains an option. Just adding Lucid or Spod rears to the stock set-up would be the cheapest most cost effective upgrade. In time...get a new HU, more time... new fronts, more time...then an amp for the fronts and for the sub.

Viola! you've built a great system.

i think it's backwards to replace everything else first and the HU last.